Network image scanning

31Dec

If you have only one scanner but many computers, what is the easiest way to share it? Connect it to one computer and set that computer to be a server, then control the scanner over the network.

<—– Server Side —–>
First, make sure your scanner is working on the server computer. If you are using a USB scanner like me, just connect and preform a scan on the server to make sure it is working. In Ubuntu, Simple Scan is the default program, and it is the best scanning software I think.

Install the required software on the server:

sudo apt-get install sane-utils

Edit /etc/default/saned, to set sane to run as server:

# Set to yes to start saned
RUN=yes

Edit /etc/sane.d/saned.conf, add the following line to set which subnet you would like to share to:

192.168.1.0/24

Add the saned user to the lp group so it can access the scanner:

sudo adduser saned lp

Restart the saned daemon:

sudo service saned restart

Run the following command and make sure your scanner is installed:

$ scanimage -L

<—– Client Side —–>
Install the required software on the client:

sudo apt-get install sane-utils

Edit /etc/sane.d/net.conf, tell the client where the server is

## saned hosts
# Each line names a host to attach to.
# If you list "localhost" then your backends can be accessed either
# directly or through the net backend. Going through the net backend
# may be necessary to access devices that need special privileges.
# localhost
192.168.1.1